The Saga of WBUZ-FM
& How It Ultimately Changed Radio Listening

1947

The Federal Communications Commission granted a construction permit for a new FM station to the Chesapeake Broadcasting Company, Inc. in late 1947 to build and operate an FM station on 96.7 megacycles at Bradbury Heights, Maryland, "just over the District of Columbia line".

Furniture dealer Arthur Baldwin Curtis was President of Chesapeake Broadcasting, which selected and was granted WBUZ-FM as call letters for the 1KW station. By the end of the year, the station was authorized to use 420 watts Effective Radiated Power.

WBUZ-FM's transmitter and 255 foot tower were located at Bradbury Heights with studios & offices in the WM&A bus station at 1510 Southern Avenue in SE, DC.

 

 

1948

The station originally announced a target date for sign-on of Christmas, 1947 but delays caused by the failure of some equipment to arrive postponed WBUZ-FM's debut airdate to January 18th, 1948. Programming consisted of a hodge-podge of local shows including:

 

7 - 9AM	"Buzzin' with Freddie"
1PM	"Fur, Feather & Fin", a pet show with Margaret Hines
1:35PM	"Hollywood News" with Roberta Rule (a secretary at the station)
11PM - 12 mid	"Slumber Hour"
Sunday 2:45PM	"Little Red Schoolhouse", a child talent show
Various times	Women's Commentator - Muriel Evans

 

In an article from the Washington Post dated February 1, 1948 (barely two weeks after the station signed on), much was made of the station being self-supporting in terms of advertising revenue and not dependent on an AM sister station to keep it afloat financially.

 

 

1949

During 1949, Chesapeake Broadcasting's Treasurer (& WBUZ-FM's General Manager), Leslie L. Altman was named President of Chesapeake Broadcasting. WBUZ-FM then began the practice of 'transit-casting', playing music for the fleet of busses of the Washington, Marlboro & Annapolis Bus Line (which Leslie L. Altman was Founder & President of).

 

 

1950

In 1950 Leslie L. Altman acquired 22.24% of the Chesapeake Broadcasting Co. in a reorganization move that may have been precipitated by financial concerns. The reason for the abandonment of local programming on WBUZ-FM is not clear but it's possible that once the novelty of the new station wore off, advertiser interest in it may have waned to the extent that the station could not support it's operating expenses.

 

 

1951

The WBUZ-FM transmitter tower in Bradbury Heights was felled by vandals on October 13th, 1951. At the time, the WM&A Bus Line was the target of a labor dispute with its drivers. The station later returned to the air with 50 watts using a temporary antenna until a new tower could be erected and full power restored.

 

 

1952

In 1952, the 'transit-casting' concept, in vogue over a number of independently operated FM stations across the United States, was attacked by the Transit Riders Association, winning at the U.S. Supreme Court level the right not to hear FM commercial programming on municipal transportation. The practice was discontinued in 1953. Programming during this period is not known.

 

 

1953

WBUZ-FM applied for an increase in power to 6.3KW in May 1953, the same month the City of License was changed from Bradbury Heights to a new subdivision, Oakland, MD. On June 8, 1953 the FCC authorized the station to raise power again to 18,000 watts.

 

 

1954

The power increase and potential interference elsewhere on the dial may have been why WBUZ-FM changed frequencies from 96.7 to 95.5 in 1954 (power was also brought down to 16.5KW). That year, WBUZ-FM's President Leslie L. Altman named Leslie Smith as the new General Manager.

 

 

1956

On March 30th, 1956, WBUZ-FM changed its call letters to WRNC-FM. (Today the WBUZ call letters are used by an Active Rock station in Nashville). Late in the year, WRNC-FM was purchased from the Chesapeake Broadcasting Company by WPGC-AM, Inc. (which had been on the air for barely two years). $5.00 was paid for the station license and $10,000 for its equipment and tower. FCC approval took place on November 20th, 1956. The purchase was made to add nighttime programming to WPGC-AM's daytime only operation.

At this time, WPGC-AM owner Maxwell Evans Richmond became President of WRNC-FM and named WPGC-AM's General Manager, Gene Winters as General Manager of WRNC-FM too. WRNC-FM began duplicating WPGC-AM's daytime programming immediately.

 

 

1958

WRNC-FM changed call letters to WPGC-FM in mid-March 1958. (Today the WRNC call letters are assigned to an AM Country station not presently on the air in suburban Atlanta). Power on the FM was reduced to 15.7KW. The FM temporarily went silent as new studios were constructed at the transmitter site.

 

 

1959

Robert Howard joined the station early in the year as its new General Manager. A huge fan of Big Band music, when the FM returned to the air from new studios at the transmitter site at 6369 Walker Mill Road in Oakland, MD in February 1959 he changed the format in the evening after the AM had signed off to Big Band music. On July 2nd, 1959, the FCC authorized the station to mount the FM antenna on the north (280 foot) tower of the AM's array.

By this time, the Washington, Marlboro & Annapolis Bus Line was sold to an employee group and Founder, Leslie L. Altman retired to Florida where he resided until his death in 1966.

 

 

1960

The FM dropped its Big Band format in 1960 and resumed simulcasting 100% with the AM during daytime hours which has since gone 100% Rock & Roll as 'The New Sound of WPGC' under new Program Director Dean Griffith (Dean Anthony) from WGH, Norfolk (who took his last name from the Washington Senators' Griffith Park).

 

 

Epilogue

During the '60's as Baby-Boomers grew up with WPGC, the station continually conditioned its listeners to 'tune over now' to the FM band when the AM would sign-off at dusk. By the '70's those teenagers were now young adults who had long been accustomed to listening to the FM side of the station at night. As FM grew during the decade they migrated over willingly from the AM in other dayparts too. Efforts to bolster the presence of the FM as a hedge against AM attrition can be found in a Billboard article from July 8, 1972 in which Program Director 'big' Wilson details his efforts to apply AM mechanics to the FM.

The results speak for itself. By 1974, WPGC-FM eclipsed the ratings of WPGC-AM for the first time. Two years later in 1976, listenership to FM radio as a whole in Washington surpassed that of AM as a whole for the first time, making DC the first FM dominant market in the country due in no small part to WPGC's long time effort to convert cume over from the AM to the FM.

Today, WPGC-FM's Urban, Hip-Hop format is the #1 rated station in DC and can trace its roots directly back to that little 1,000 watt FM pioneer, WBUZ.

 

 

Print Materials

Articles

Click on image below to see enlargement.

Bradbury Heights Didn't Sunday, 2/01/48 ©

 

1959 FM Coverage Map During Big Band Format

 

Big Wilson Stressing FM 7/8/72 © Billboard

 

 

Sound Files

Misc. Audio

2/29/04	Ed Walker on: Moving to Coral Hills Facility & WBUZ - 1:07
2/29/04	Ed Walker on: WBUZ broadcasting to WM&A busses - :34

 

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